


Call It Hope

by ensorcel



Category: The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Femslash, Light Angst, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:40:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23780050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ensorcel/pseuds/ensorcel
Summary: Cassidy's used to her mother's husbands. She didn't want another Stephen. (She wonders who's on the other end of her mother's calls.)An analysis of personal fulfillment and happiness.
Relationships: Miranda Priestly/Andrea Sachs
Comments: 23
Kudos: 302





	Call It Hope

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zigostia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zigostia/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Four Corners](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1039309) by [chilly_flame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chilly_flame/pseuds/chilly_flame). 



> Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Twentieth Century Fox and Laura Weisberger. Any characters recognized don't belong to me.
> 
> Happy birthday to the amazing zigostia! You're officially a dancing queen and my longest writing partner-in-crime. Don't die in quarantine.

Cassidy wasn’t quite sure what to think of Andy. She got them _Harry Potter_ , that was true, but there was something about her that Cassidy couldn’t quite place her finger on.

It wasn’t that she was a woman, or that she was Mom’s assistant, or that she was young. There was just… something.

She was pretty though, with that long brown hair and nice eyes. (Though, to be completely honest, Cassidy’s a little surprised. Her mom is surrounded by the world’s most beautiful women. Why Andy?)

But she didn’t say anything, of course. Mom seemed happy and if that was good enough for her, it was good enough for Cassidy.

* * *

Cassidy was used to shouting matches in her home. Her parent’s marriage wasn’t the best, but whose was? Her mom and dad loved her and that was that.

Until a lamp was smashed on the ground and Dad was running out the door without saying “Good night” to them. (She didn’t tell her mom that she saw her sobbing on the ground and she didn’t tell her that Dad had smashed her favourite vase.)

She ran back up the stairs, sneaking up as quietly and carefully as possible. Maybe Caroline was still asleep.

She snuck into Caroline’s room even though she wasn’t supposed to, even though her mom says that they should let each other have their space, and crawled into her sister’s bed.

“I think it’s okay now,” she lied, trying to forget the image of their mom crying her heart out.

“Okay,” Caroline replied. (Caroline wouldn’t admit it, but Cassidy was the braver one out of them.)

Cassidy curls around Caroline and soon, Caroline was fast asleep.

(She tried to ignore her mom's footsteps up the stairs and into Caroline’s room.)

She heard her mom sigh and sit down on the bed. Cassidy kept her eyes closed. Her mom stroked her hair.

“You’re getting a little too big for me to carry,” Mom whispered, carefully lifting Cassidy from the bed. Cassidy didn’t open her eyes. Her mom's arms were too warm.

She felt herself drift off to sleep.

* * *

When their mom sat them down for a “family talk”, Cassidy was worried. What was wrong? Were they going to move? Katharine moved last week and Caroline was very upset. She sat up straighter and told herself that no matter what, she wasn’t going to cry. She was a big girl now and big girls didn’t cry. (Not that she would tell Caroline that. Caroline would cry at that.)

Dad wasn’t at the family talk.

Cassidy still remembered the shattered lamp and vase. (She still remembered her mom on the floor, but she didn’t tell herself that.)

“Girls, your father and I are getting a divorce,” Mom said, clasping her hands tightly. She looked at them kindly. (Cassidy told herself not to remember.)

“Where is Dad going to live?” Caroline asked, very quietly. She wasn’t looking at her or Mom.

“Dad has his own home now and you can visit him there,” Mom explained. Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. Plenty of people get divorced. Caron’s parents got divorced last year and Carson seemed fine. Right?

Caroline looked like she was going to cry. But whatever happened, like she had promised herself, Cassidy wasn’t going to cry.

“He still loves us, right?” Cassidy asked, meekly. She looked down at her feet.

“Of course, dear, he still loves both of you very, very much,” Mom said, and pulled both of them into a hug.

Her mom was a beautiful woman, Cassidy knew. Everyone told her that. But one of things she loved the most about her mom was her scent. She couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was, but Mom meant home and home meant Mom and that meant Cassidy was happy and Cassidy wanted nothing but to be happy.

“We still get to live with you, right?” Cassidy mumbled into her mom's shoulder. Mom smiled.

“Yes, you will still be living with me, but sometimes you’ll be at your Dad’s, okay?” Mom quietly replied.

“Okay,” Cassidy said.

“Okay,” Caroline said.

Her mom was lovely.

* * *

Cassidy didn’t want to be a flower girl, but her mom said she had to—there was no other role in the wedding—and so she walked down the aisle as nicely as she could and ignored the fact that she hated her shoes and the flowers she held. (Stephen thought she would like them, that they were little girls, and Mom hadn’t said anything about it.)

Well. Mom seemed happy enough, she guessed. She came home earlier, which made Caroline happy, and Cassidy didn’t have to join her sister in her room because of nightmares anymore. So there was that.

And Stephen seemed nice enough, she guessed. He looked a little like Dad, but he didn’t know them like Dad and that made all the difference.

He wanted Mom, that was clear, but Cassidy knew that a lot of people wanted Mom, that a lot of people knew she was important and that whatever her mom said _mattered._

But Stephen didn’t seem to want her and Caroline, and yes, Cassidy was a little miffed, but soon they would be grown up and that wouldn’t matter anymore. (So what if she hated the shoes at her mom’s wedding?)

He patted them on the heads and agreed to whatever they asked, but Cassidy could tell. Whatever. He wasn’t Dad and he wasn’t asking to be. That was alright with her.

Anyways. Mom seemed happy.

She seemed happy and she hugged Cassidy more and she came home more and there were more smiles in the house and if that meant Stephen had to stay, then Cassidy was okay.

Mom seemed happy.

* * *

The next time Mom sat them down for a “family talk”, Cassidy and Caroline are older and no longer stare at their shoes. Cassidy wasn’t worried about Caroline bursting into tears and it had been a long time since she had snuck into her sister’s room to comfort her during fights.

“Girls, Stephen and I are getting divorced,” Mom said, quickly and firmly. This was nothing like with Dad. (Mom had seemed a little sad then. She doesn’t seem sad now.)

“He’s moving out, right?” Cassidy asked. She thought she saw her mom almost smile.

“Yes, he’s moving out. This may cause a little trouble at school, but whatever happens, just ignore it, okay?” Mom said, pulling both of them in for a hug. She changed her perfume but Cassidy didn’t mind. She still smelt like Mom and that was good enough for her.

“It’s just going to be us again, right?” Caroline asked. Mom nodded.

“Just going to be us for a while.”

Cassidy was okay with that.

She hoped Mom was okay with that too. (She didn’t need anymore Stephens in her life.)

* * *

Mom started to talk on the phone more.

Not like work talk, but like talk _talk._ Her voice would soften and sometimes Cassidy would catch her with a wine glass in hand, just quietly talking to whoever else was on the line.

Sometimes Cassidy would catch her smiling too, and that made Cassidy smile.

And sometimes, if Cassidy was really, really lucky, she would hear her mom singing. (She couldn’t remember the last time her mom sang, but she did remember that it was lovely.)

She hoped that whoever he was, he knew how perfect her mom was.

* * *

Cassidy caught her on the staircase, rushing out of the house.

“Who are you?” she asked, noticing the woman’s disheveled hair and messy makeup. Did she work for her mom? (How the hell did she get hired, with that makeup?)

The woman whipped around, seemingly surprised.

“Oh hi!” she said, shoving on a high heel that Cassidy really liked. Those pairs were nice. Maybe she’d be able to convince her mom to let her wear them. “I work with your mom, but I really gotta go—”

“Are you the person my mom is always talking to on the phone?”

The woman freezes, and slows down.

“I guess? Maybe? You’d have to ask her,” she replied, putting on her coat. “I gotta go!”

And she was out the door.

Huh.

Okay.

* * *

She found out the woman’s name was “Andy” and she seemed really nice.

She had nice long brown hair and kind eyes. She liked reading and wanted to be a writer. Cassidy liked her.

Mom was on the phone more. (Not work, of course.) She also found out that Andy _was_ the person on the other side of the line and it seemed that Andy knew just how perfect her mom was.

Books start to sneak into their house. Cassidy founds a copy of _Sense and Sensibility_ on her mom’s nightstand and decides to take a peak. She’d heard that Jane Austen was good.

(She was surprised that she liked it. She asked Andy for a copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ next. Andy beamed.)

She started to like her essays more because she could ask Andy to read them over. (Sometimes, she used to ask her mom but she never really got any corrections.) Andy wasn’t afraid to rip it apart. Cassidy liked that.

She also found out that Andy liked _Harry Potter._ And that Andy liked skating. And that she used to play basketball in college and was really good at it.

She noticed that Mom was home more.

She noticed that Mom smiled more.

(One time, she even caught them kissing. It wasn’t the kind in the movies, where they would dramatically profess their love and then push each other into the wall. It was familiar and Cassidy secretly hopes that Andy leaves more and more books at their home.)

* * *

Andy was a really good cook. Cassidy liked that.

“Do you love my mom?”

Andy didn’t whip around like the first time they’d met. She carefully set down the pan and turned out to look at Cassidy.

“I do,” Andy said and gave Cassidy a smile.

“Okay,” Cassidy replied.

“Is that okay with you?” Andy asked, turning back to the stove and scooping out the pancakes onto a plate. “The syrup’s in the fridge.”

Cassidy thought for awhile. The pancakes smelt really good.

“Yeah, yeah, I am.”

Andy smiled.

“Good. Me too.”

And Cassidy’s really good with that too.

**FIN.**

> _“Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience—or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.” —Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility_

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, happy birthday to zigostia! Read lots of fic, have a great day, and don't you dare go outside! I hope you all enjoyed and comments are always appreciated. Hope to be bringing you more works in the future.


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